Venue application for mobile station position estimation

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a method, and a system to perform the method, comprising receiving venue infrastructure information at an entity hosted on a mobile station, and selectively providing a portion of the venue infrastructure information to one or more other entities hosted on the mobile station based, at least in part, on a privilege level attributed to the mobile station or a user associated with the mobile station.

CROSS-REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/247,873, entitled “Venue Map Applications,” filed on Oct. 1,2009 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/322,559, entitled“Managed Indoor LBS in Sensitive Deployment Venues,” filed on Apr. 9,2010, which are assigned to the assignee hereof and which is expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Subject matter disclosed herein relates to a venue application for usein mobile station position estimation.

2. Information

The Global Positioning System (GPS) and other like satellite positioningsystems have enabled navigation services for mobile handsets in outdoorenvironments. Since satellite signals may not be reliably receivedand/or acquired in an indoor environment, different techniques may beemployed to enable navigation services. For example, mobile stations cantypically obtain a position fix by measuring ranges to three or moreterrestrial wireless access points which are positioned at knownlocations. Such ranges may be measured, for example, by obtaining a MACID address from signals received from such access points and obtainingrange measurements to the access points by measuring one or morecharacteristics of signals received from such access points such as, forexample, signal strength and/or round trip delay.

In some implementations, an indoor navigation system may provide adigital electronic map to mobile stations upon entry to a particularindoor area. Such a map may show indoor features such as doors,hallways, entry ways, walls, etc., points of interest such as bathrooms,pay phones, room names, stores, etc. Such a digital electronic map maybe stored at a server to be accessible by a mobile station throughselection of a universal resource locator (URL), for example. Byobtaining and displaying such a map, a mobile station may overlay acurrent location of the mobile station (and user) over the displayed mapto provide the user with additional context. Using map informationindicating routing constraints, a mobile station may also apply locationestimates to estimating a trajectory of the mobile station in an indoorarea subject to the routing constraints.

SUMMARY

In one particular implementation, venue infrastructure information isreceived at an entity hosted on a mobile station. Portions of the venueinfrastructure information are selectively provided to one or more otherentities hosted on the mobile station based, at least in part, on aprivilege level attributed to the mobile station or user associated withthe mobile station. It should be understood, however, that this ismerely an example implementation and that claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples will be described withreference to the following figures, wherein like reference numeralsrefer to like parts throughout the various figures.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram depicting an example mobile stationin communication with an example wireless communication network inaccordance with an implementation.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting an example trilaterationtechnique for determining an estimated position for a mobile station inaccordance with an implementation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an application processing stack hostedon a mobile station in communication with a venue server in accordancewith an implementation.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application processing stack hostedon a mobile station in communication with a venue server in accordancewith an alternative implementation.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram depicting a mobile station inaccordance with an implementation.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a process for controlling access to venueinfrastructure information according to an implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To enable a mobile station to provide location services in an indoorarea (e.g., location estimation, trajectory estimation, navigation,etc.) a venue operator may provide mobile stations with venueinfrastructure information such as, for example, venue-map information(e.g., a digital map with associated metadata such as points ofinterest), information descriptive of locations of radio frequency (RF)beacon transmitters (e.g., wireless access points) or their propagationsignatures, heatmap or radiomap data associating expected receivedsignal characteristics with locations in a venue, informationdescriptive of routeability graphs of feasible/navigable areas, just toname a few examples. In particular implementations, a party providingvenue infrastructure information, such as a venue operator, may wish tocontrol and/or restrict access to such venue-map and/or associatedinfrastructure information (such as locations of RF beacontransmitters). For example, such a venue operator may wish to restrictaccess in accordance with a security policy and/or monetization model.Here, a mobile station may host an entity to restrict such access. Inone example, a venue operator may provide a venue-secured applicationthat is to be hosted on a mobile station to access venue-map and/orassociated infrastructure information from a location server through awireless communication link. In this context, a venue operator mayinclude any one of several parties such as, for example, an owner of abusiness, government agency, proprietor, party contracted to providemanagement of a facility, school, just to name a few examples. Inanother example implementation, a system service (e.g., a locationengine system service) hosted on a mobile station may restrict access tovenue infrastructure information.

In a particular example, a venue operator may make a venue-securedapplication available for use by mobile stations travelling in an areaof interest to the venue operator. In one implementation, avenue-secured application may be downloaded and/or launched to a mobilestation using any one of several well known techniques such as selectionof a URL from the mobile station. The launched venue-secured applicationmay then communicate with a venue server to receive venue infrastructureinformation. In a particular implementation, a venue-secured applicationmay control, restrict or prevent dissemination of information receivedfrom such a venue server to other entities hosted on the mobile stationsuch as applications, system services (e.g., a location engine service),just to name a few examples. In one implementation, a location engineservice may be capable of performing one or more functions in support oflocation services such as measuring ranges to RF beacon transmittersfrom signal characteristics, estimating locations of the mobile stationand/or estimating a trajectory over feasible paths in a digital map,just to name a few examples. In this particular example, thevenue-secured application hosted on a mobile station may providedifferent levels of access to venue-map and/or infrastructureinformation based, for example, on a privilege level attributed to amobile station and/or associated user of the mobile station and/orprivilege levels of other applications hosted on the mobile station. Asdiscussed below, such a privilege level may be determined based one ormore criteria such as, for example, according to a monetization and/orsubscription model, customer loyalty (e.g., quantified by purchase“points”), classification of a role within an enterprise ororganization, and/or other particular attributes of a user (e.g., age,gender, birth date, place of residence, employer, etc.), just to name afew example criteria that may be used in mapping a particular privilegelevel to a mobile station and/or user of such a mobile station. In aparticular example implementation, such a privilege level may beassociated with a particular application hosted on the mobile device.

While particular implementations are directed to providing venueinfrastructure information to an entity hosted on a mobile station froma venue operator, such venue infrastructure information may be providedby any one of several different parties such as, for example, a serviceprovider not tied to any particular vendor, equipment manufacturer,information technology contractor, map aggregator, peer device, thirdparty intermediary, just to name a few examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless network 120 incommunication with a mobile station 600. Wireless network 120, for thisexample, may provide voice or data communication for a number ofwireless terminals including mobile station 600, for example, and mayfurther support initial position estimation for the wireless terminalsin addition to providing voice or data communication. Wireless network120 may comprise any of a number of wireless network types, severalexamples of which are described below. Wireless network 120 for thisexample comprises terrestrial-based wireless access points 132, 134, and136 that provide communication for a number of mobile stations such as,for example, mobile station 600. For simplicity, only a few wirelessaccess points 132, 134, and 136 are depicted and one mobile station 600is depicted in FIG. 1. Of course, other examples may include a smalleror greater number of transmitters, and the configuration of transmittersdepicted in FIG. 1 is merely an example configuration.

In an aspect, mobile station 600 may obtain one or more measurementsfrom one or more signals received from transmitters at one or more ofwireless access points 132, 134, and 136. Mobile station 600 may gatherpropagation delay information or signal strength information throughcommunication with one or more of wireless access points 132, 134, and136. Using such gathered information, mobile station 600 may compute anestimate for the position of mobile station 600 through trilaterationbased, at least in part, on timing calibration parameters such as roundtrip delay or code phase detections, signal strength estimates, or othermeasurements obtained through communication with one or more of wirelessaccess points 132, 134, or 136, and further based, at least in part, onknown or reported locations of wireless access points 132, 134, or 136.

As an alternative to trilateration, a mobile station may associatecharacteristics of received/acquired signals with expected signalcharacteristics at different location points of a venue in “heatmap” or“radiomap” data to estimate a location of the mobile station using wellknown techniques. Such expected signal characteristics may include, forexample, receive signal strength and/or round trip delay associated withMAC addresses of transmitters transmitting the received signals.

In an aspect, one or more of wireless access points 132, 134, and 136may further couple mobile station 600 to one or more other systems andnetworks, such as, for example, a public switched telephone network(PSTN), a local area network (LAN), and/or a wide area network such asthe Internet, to name merely a few examples. For the example depicted inFIG. 1, mobile station 600 may communicate with a venue server 140through a network by way of transmitter 134. In addition, mobile station600 may communicate with venue server 140 through a LAN or a wide areanetwork. As such, venue server 140 may be accessible by mobile station600 using well known Internet protocols and need not be physicallylocated at any particular venue. In a particular implementation, venueserver 140 may communicate with mobile stations to provide informationto assist mobile stations in navigation operations while mobile stationslocated in a particular venue area being covered by venue server 140.Such a venue area may comprise, for example, an indoor environment suchas an office building, airport, school, museum, shopping mall, just toname a few examples. Information provided to such mobile stations mayinclude, for example, digital venue maps that may be displayed on amobile station, locations of points of interest overlaid on such venuemaps, information to assist mobile stations in computing positionestimates including, for example, known locations of transmitters (e.g.,transmitters on wireless access points), identification informationassociated with such transmitters (e.g., MAC addresses that may bedetermined from acquisition of signals transmitted by such transmitters)and/or other information enabling a mobile station to obtainmeasurements of ranges to transmitters at known locations, just toprovide a few examples.

In a particular implementation, and as pointed out above, avenue-secured application hosted on a mobile station may control and/orrestrict dissemination of venue infrastructure information to otherentities (e.g., applications and system services) hosted on the mobilestation such as couponing application or a location engine service.Here, such a location engine service may be capable of performing one ormore functions in support of location services such as measuring rangesto RF beacon transmitters from signal characteristics and estimatinglocations of the mobile station based, at least in part, on the measuredranges and known locations of the RF beacon transmitters. In analternative implementation, a location engine service or otherapplication may further process estimated locations to estimate atrajectory over feasible paths in a digital map such as digital map ofan indoor venue. In a particular implementation, such feasible paths maybe determined a priori according to a routability graph expressed asmetadata in a digital map stored in an electronic medium, for example.

In an aspect, locations of one or more wireless transmitters in awireless system such as wireless network 120 may be known at a mobilestation such as mobile station 600. For example, such locations may beforwarded to mobile station 600 by venue server 140 with the locationsprovided by the transmitters themselves. Alternatively, heatmap orradiomap information including expected signal characteristics (e.g.,received signal strength or round trip delay) at specific locations inan area of interest may be forwarded to mobile station 600.

FIG. 2 depicts an example trilateration technique for estimating aposition of mobile station 600. For the present example, mobile station600 may receive wireless signals from a number of transmitters and/or RFbeacons. In this example, access points 232, 234, and 236 are shown. Inother examples, mobile station 600 may receive wireless signals from agreater or smaller number of transmitters and/or RF beacons. In anaspect, to perform a trilateration position estimate, signals from threeor more transmitters and/or RF beacons may be received. In general, thecloser a receiving device is to the transmitting device, the strongerthe received signal strength, for example. Here, a mobile station inrelatively close proximity to a transmitter and/or RF beacon may expectto receive a signal of relatively high signal strength from thetransmitter and/or RF beacon, and a mobile station located a greaterdistance from the transmitter and/or RF beacon may expect to receive asignal of lower signal strength. Various mathematical models may beutilized to estimate a range between a mobile station and a transmitterand/or RF beacon, and the scope of claimed subject matter is not limitedin this respect.

Although examples described herein discuss measuring ranges betweentransmitting devices and receiving devices based at least in part onsignal strength, the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect. Measuring ranges between transmitting devices andreceiving devices based at least in part on signal strength is merelyone example technique for estimating and/or measuring such ranges. Othertechniques may include, for example, measuring and/or estimating suchranges based at least in part on signal phase and/or signal timing.Again, the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in theserespects. Also, as discussed above, a location of a mobile station mayalso be estimated by matching received signal characteristics withsignatures in heatmap or radiomap data associated with specificlocations.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an application processing stack hostedon a mobile station in communication with a venue server in accordancewith an implementation. Mobile station 300 (referred to above as mobilestation 600) may comprise one or more application processors (not shown)capable of executing machine-readable instructions stored in memory (notshown) to enable execution of any one of several applications 308 and310. Such applications may include, for example, voice communication,data communication (e.g., email, text messaging, access to the worldwide web), audio storage and playback, location based services, just toname a few examples.

The one or more application processors of mobile station 300 may host anoperating system 304 such as Android™ by Google Inc., iOS™ by AppleInc., PNP BREW by Qualcomm Inc. or Windows Phone™ by Microsoft Inc.,just to name a few examples. In addition, the one or more applicationprocessors may host a location engine 302 that performs one or morefunctions including, for example, computing estimates of a currentlocation of mobile station 300 (e.g., by obtaining a position fix bytrilateration to terrestrial transmitters and/or obtaining position fixfrom a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as GPS),estimating a trajectory of mobile station 300 over a venue map (e.g.,using a Kalman filter, extended Kalman filter, particle filter accordingto a predetermined routeability graph, etc.).

In a particular example, location engine 302 may be capable ofperforming one or more functions in support of location services such asmeasuring ranges to RF beacon transmitters based on received signalcharacteristics, estimating locations of the mobile station, determininga building floor where the mobile station is located and/or estimating atrajectory over feasible paths in a digital map. As discussed below,instead of location engine 302 being hosted on an application processor,in an alternative implementation a location engine service may be hostedat least in part on a modem processor (not shown).

Operating system 304 and location engine 302 communicate withapplications 308 and 310 via an application platform applicationprogramming interface (API) 306. In a particular implementation,application platform API 306 may define common variables, routines, datastructures, object classes and/or protocols enabling applications (e.g.,applications 308 and 310) to communicate with hardware elements andplatform services (e.g., location services) of mobile station 300. In aparticular implementation, an “application” as referred to hereinrelates to a hosted entity that provides functionality to a mobilestation for performing specific tasks as perceived by a user. Forexample, as discussed above, an application may communicate with anoperating system and/or other entities though an API such as applicationplatform API 306. Some applications may be selectively installed orremoved using well known techniques. A “system service” as referred toherein relates to an entity hosted on a mobile station as a resource toother entities (e.g., applications). In the example implementation ofFIG. 3, a location engine 302 comprises a system service which may beaccessible by one or more applications through application platform API306. In a particular implementation, a system service may interact withone or more hardware elements to provide data to be accessible byapplications through an API. Another example, of a system service maycomprise an inertial navigation systems service that communicates withinertial sensors to process sensor measurements to provide data for useby applications. It should be understood, however, that these are merelyexamples of a system service according to particular implementations,and that claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

In a particular implementation, applications 308 and 310 may communicatewith venue server 340 through a wireless communication network asdiscussed above. In particular, application 310 comprises avenue-secured application that communicates with venue server 340 toobtain information to assist in providing location based services. Inone implementation, venue-secured application 310 may be downloadedand/or launched to mobile station 300 using any one of several wellknown techniques such as selection of a URL from mobile station 300. Inanother example, venue-license application 310 may pre-installed withmobile station 300 at a factory. It should be understood, however, thatthese are merely examples of how a venue-secured application may beinstalled and launched to a mobile station, and claimed subject matteris not limited in these respects.

In one particular implementation, venue-secured application 310 may pushvenue infrastructure information through application platform API 306 tolocation engine 302, as indicated by arrow 314. Such information mayinclude information descriptive of locations of one or more RF beacontransmitters or a signal heatmap of expected signal characteristics ofsignals received from such RF beacon transmitters at specific locationsin a venue. In a particular implementation where such RF beacontransmitters are provided by wireless access points to a communicationnetwork, such information descriptive of locations of access points maybe provided in a data structure that associates MAC addresses of suchaccess points with information descriptive of the locations of theaccess points (e.g., according to a local or global coordinate system).However, this is merely an example of how a venue-secured applicationmay provide venue infrastructure information according to a particularimplementation and claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect.

In one particular implementation, a venue operator may receive revenuefrom mobile station users in exchange for providing location basedservices facilitated by venue server 340 in communication withvenue-secured application 310. For example, a venue operator may chargea one-time fee from a mobile station user in exchange for being able tohost the venue-secured application 310 on the mobile station. In onealternative, a venue operator may allow installation of venue-securedapplication 310 for free, allow basic service for free, and charge a feefor premium service. In another alternative, a venue operator may bill afee to a mobile station user for each use of a location based serviceoffered through venue-secured application 310. In anotherimplementation, venue-secured application may push advertising fordisplay on mobile station 300.

In another implementation, venue-secured application 310 may, as aprecondition to providing a location based service, receive passwordinformation at a user interface. The password information may then beforwarded to venue server 340 for authentication prior to providing alocation based service. In an alternative implementation, venue-securedapplication 310 may tender a digital certificate to venue server 340 forinitiating a secure session between venue-secured application 310 andvenue server 340. It should be understood, however that these are merelyexamples of how access to location based services may be controlled by avenue-secured application and claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

In a particular implementation, venue-secured application 310 maycontrol and/or restrict dissemination of venue infrastructureinformation to other entities hosted on mobile station 300 such as otherapplications 308 and/or location engine 302. In this regard,venue-secured application 310 may act as an agent of venue server 340 incontrolling dissemination of information received from venue server 340to other entities hosted on mobile station 300 (such as otherapplications 308). In this particular example, venue-secured application310 and venue server 340 may communicate over a secured channel usingany one of several encryption techniques, for example. Also,venue-secured application 310 may provide different levels of access tovenue-map and/or infrastructure information based, for example, on aprivilege level associated with mobile station 300 and/or associateduser of mobile station 300. In one implementation, a particularprivilege level may be determined based, at least in part, on whether auser associated with mobile station 300 is a paid user, employee,customer, guest, manager, just to name a few examples.

As discussed above, a mobile station may estimate its position usingtrilateration by obtaining measurements to RF beacon transmitters (e.g.,access points) with knowledge of locations of the RF beacon transmittersor matching received signal characteristics with heatmap or radiomapdata. In one particular case, venue-secured application 310 may receivefrom venue server 340 venue-map information and locations of RF beacontransmitters positioned in a particular area, and allow location engine302 access to information descriptive of locations of RF beacontransmitters and venue-map information. Accordingly, location engine 302can obtain position estimates using through trilateration based onknowledge of locations of the RF beacon transmitters or application ofreceived signal characteristics to heatmap data, and apply the obtainedposition estimates to received venue-map information to estimate atrajectory of mobile station 300 in the indoor area. It should be notedthat in this particular case, venue-secured application 310 allowslocation engine 302 to have complete access to locations of RF beacontransmitters or signal heatmap/radiomap data, and venue-map information.In one particular implementation, application platform API 306 mayinclude a special secure portion that facilitates communication betweenlocation engine 302 and venue-secured application 310. For example,secure information in common variables defined by application platformAPI 306 may be encrypted and be selectively de-encrypted byvenue-secured application 310 based upon whether other applications 308are to have access to such secure information. Here, venue-securedapplication 310 may identify mobile station 300 and/or a user associatedwith mobile station 300 as having a high or highest privilege level tohave such complete access.

In another particular case, venue-secured application 310 may allowlocation engine 302 access to information descriptive of locations of RFbeacon transmitters or signal heatmap/radiomap data, but not allowlocation engine 302 access to venue map information as this informationis to be maintained in privacy according to a policy. The venue-securedapplication itself may perform trajectory estimation instead of locationengine 302 performing this function. In one implementation,venue-secured application 310 may “push” a data structure to locationengine 302 through application platform API 306 identifying RF beacontransmitters by MAC addresses (e.g., in the case of access points) andassociating location information with such MAC addresses. Alternatively,such MAC addresses may be associated with heatmap or radiomap datacomprising expected signal characteristics received at particularlocations in a venue from transmitters associated with the MACaddresses. Location engine 302 may then use such knowledge of locationsof the RF beacon transmitters to obtain position estimates (e.g., usingtrilateration applying received signal characteristics to heatmap dataas discussed above), and venue-secured application 310 may performtrajectory estimation by applying position estimates (obtained fromlocation engine 302) to venue map information that is privatelymaintained by venue-secured application 310.

In yet another particular case, venue-secured application 310 may notpermit location engine 302 to receive or access either venue-mapinformation or locations of RF beacon transmitters. Here, locationengine 302 may still provide to venue-secured application 310 rangemeasurements to RF beacon transmitters (e.g., associated with MACaddresses of wireless access points providing such RF beacontransmitters) based upon received signal strength, round-trip delay,and/or the like. Venue-secured application 310 may then usetrilateration compute estimates of location of mobile station 300 basedupon such range measurements determined by location engine 302 andlocations of the associated RF beacon transmitters obtained from venueserver 340. Venue-secured application 310 may then apply such estimatesof location of mobile station 300 to venue-map information forestimating a trajectory of mobile station 300 in an indoor area, forexample.

The above examples relate to control and/or restriction of access tovenue-map information and/or locations of RF beacon transmitters. Inother implementations, other types of information may be restrictedand/or controlled by a venue-secured application such as, for exampleinformation indicating points of interest, granularity of venue-mapinformation, etc.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example alternativeimplementation of mobile station 300 in which a location engine isintegrated with a venue-secured application 312. As discussed above withreference to FIG. 3, venue-secured application 312 may communicate withvenue server 340, and control dissemination of information (such aslocations of RF beacon transmitters and venue map information) to otherentities hosted on mobile station 300.

In a particular implementation, venue-secured application 310 maysecurely maintain, and control access to, information received fromvenue server 340 using any one of several techniques. For example,venue-secured application 310 may store associated application data inan encrypted format, such as secure hash key encryption, just as anexample. Alternatively, such application data may be stored in acompressed format with password protection where application 310 knowsthe password. In yet another alternative, access to such applicationdata may be protected using secure hardware memory. It should beunderstood, however, that these are merely examples of how oneapplication hosted on an API may securely maintain and control access toinformation according to particular implementations, and claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

While particular implementations discussed above are directed tocontrolling dissemination of venue infrastructure information at avenue-secured application, other implementations may controldissemination of such venue infrastructure information using a systemservice such as a location engine service. As discussed above, such asystem service may communicate with a venue server over a securedwireless link to receive venue infrastructure information, andselectively disseminate such received venue infrastructure informationto other entities hosted on the mobile device (e.g., mappingapplications, etc.). Here, such a system service may also maintainreceived venue infrastructure information in a secure manner and applypreconditions before disseminating the venue infrastructure informationor rendering a service using same. For example, as discussed above, asystem service may receive password information provided at a userinterface and provide such password information to a venue server forauthentication/authorization. Alternatively, the system service maytender a digital certificate to a venue server for establishing a securesession between the system service and the venue server. It should beunderstood, however, that this is merely an additional example of how anentity hosted on a mobile device may control access to location servicesand related information, and claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

To recap a particular implementation, FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of aprocess that may be performed by an entity hosted on a mobile station(such as a venue-secured application or system service) according to animplementation. At step 702, venue infrastructure information may bereceived from a venue server. As discussed above such venueinfrastructure information may include, for example, venue-mapinformation (e.g., a digital map with associated metadata such as pointsof interest), information descriptive of locations of radio frequency(RF) beacon transmitters (e.g., wireless access points) or theirpropagation signatures, information descriptive of routeability graphsof feasible/navigable areas, just to name a few examples. Additionally,such venue infrastructure information may be received at a mobilestation over a secure wireless link. At step 704, portions of thereceived venue infrastructure information may be selectively provided toentities on the mobile station (e.g., other applications, systemservices, etc.) based, at least in part on a privilege level attributedto the mobile station or a user associated with the mobile station. Itshould be understood, however, that this is merely an exampleimplementation and that claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect.

As pointed out above, different mobile stations may be provided withdifferent levels of access based, at least in part, on differentclassifications of users associated with the different mobile stationsand/or a particular policy applied in controlling access to certaininformation. Here, different access policies may apply based onparticular individual users operating the mobile stations. For example,different access policies may be applied based upon particular roleswithin an enterprise, different levels of customer loyalty according toa loyalty classification, whether access to a particular service hasbeen paid for in advance, etc. Here, access to venue-map and/orinfrastructure information may be “tuned” according to particular userattributes, classifications, etc. mapping to particular predeterminedprivilege levels, and particular access policies being applied. In oneimplementation, a venue-secured application may use passwordauthentication/authorization to identifying specific users and/or mobilestations that have an enhanced or higher privilege level. In anotherimplementation, mobile stations are configured with predefinedcredentials according to a certificate mechanism and based on userclass.

In one particular application example, an indoor environment served by avenue server may comprise a casino gaming floor. Here, a venue-securedapplication hosted on mobile stations may access a venue server operatedby a casino through WLAN infrastructure. As discussed above, such avenue-secured application may further restrict dissemination ofinformation obtained from the venue server to other entities on a mobilestation based, at least in part, on a privilege level attributed to themobile station. In a particular implementation, such a privilege levelmay be defined at least in part by whether the mobile station isassociated with or being used by a customer, employee, manager or casinoexecutive.

In one particular implementation, a privilege level of a customer may befurther defined based, at least in part, on whether the customer is apreferred or VIP customer. For example, a venue-secured applicationhosted on a mobile station attributed to a customer incrementally affector “tune” one or more qualities of a position engine based upon whetherthe customer is an ordinary customer, preferred customer or VIPcustomer. Preferred or VIP customers, for example, may receive a higherquality position estimates than position estimates received by ordinarycustomers. Such higher quality position estimates may be achieved byapplying additional resources to more accurate or precise positionestimates including, for example, processing resources to perform mapmatching and/or position filtering. Such additional resources may beapplied, for example, by exposing unique interfaces to heterogeneouscomputing devices such as a graphics processing unit, digital signalprocessor or multicore processor, just to name a few examples. Inanother implementation, in addition to a basic service offered to allcustomers, preferred or VIP customers may receive venue map informationdescriptive of VIP areas.

In another particular application example, a venue server may provideinformation to mobile stations to support location based services in anairport terminal area. In one aspect, a venue-secured application hostedon mobile stations associated with members of the general public mayrestrict dissemination of venue map and/or other infrastructuredescription so as to exclude areas that are not accessible to thegeneral public. A venue-secured application hosted on mobile stationsassociated with airport employees, on the other hand, may permitdissemination of venue map and/or other infrastructure description toinclude all areas of the airport terminal. While this is just oneexample of defining different privilege levels for employees and membersof the public, additional privilege levels may be attributed todifferent classes of users. For example, a venue-secured application mayfurther define different privileges (and hence different arearestrictions on venue map and/or other infrastructure description) forTSA personnel, airline personnel, janitorial staff, informationtechnology personnel, just to name a few examples.

In another aspect, in addition to restricting dissemination ofinformation received from a venue server to other entities hosted on amobile station, a venue-secured application may affect how informationis presented on a mobile station based, at least in part, on a userclassification. For example, if a user of a mobile station is apassenger, a venue-secured application hosted on the mobile station mayhighlight or emphasize particular points of interest such as, forexample, pre-boarding security, ticketing, gates, eating establishments,just to name a few examples.

In a particular implementation, a mobile station at an airport mayreceive access to information provided by a venue server followingauthentication of the mobile station using any one of severalauthentication techniques. In addition to authentication, a venue serveroperated by the airport or port authority may collect a fee from a userof the mobile station in exchange for access to venue map and/or otherinfrastructure information.

As used herein, the term “access point” is meant to include any wirelesscommunication station and/or device used to facilitate communication ina wireless communications system, such as, for example, a wireless localarea network, although the scope of claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. Similarly, the term “access point” is meant toinclude a “base station” that may facilitate wireless communication in acellular telephone network, for example. In another aspect, an accesspoint may comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point,for example. Such a WLAN may comprise a network compatible with one ormore versions of IEEE standard 802.11 in an aspect, although the scopeof claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. A WLAN accesspoint may provide communication between one or more mobile stations anda network such as the Internet, for example. In another example, anaccess point may comprise a “femtocell” to provided access to a cellularnetwork through a broadband connection such as, for example, a DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), cable, or the like. In this context, a femtocellmay utilize or otherwise be compatible with various types ofcommunication technology, such as, for example, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UTMS), Long Term Evolution (LTE),Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only (EV-DO), Global Systemfor Mobile communications (GSM), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Code division multiple access (CDMA)-2000, orTime Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), justto name a few among many possible.

As used herein, the term “mobile station” (MS) refers to a device thatmay from time to time have a position location that changes. The changesin position location may comprise changes to direction, distance,orientation, etc., as a few examples. In particular examples, a mobilestation may comprise a cellular telephone, wireless communicationdevice, user equipment, laptop computer, other personal communicationsystem (PCS) device, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal audiodevice (PAD), portable navigational device, and/or other portablecommunication devices. A mobile station may also comprise a processorand/or computing platform adapted to perform functions controlled bymachine-readable instructions.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example mobile station 600 thatmay be adapted to perform any of the example techniques described hereinrelated to mobile stations. For example, mobile station 600, asdescribed previously, may perform trilateration calculations based onone or more wireless signal characteristics received at the mobilestation to determine an initial estimated location for the mobilestation. Mobile station 600 may further communicate with other systemresources, such as, for example, a venue server, as depicted in FIG. 1.Of course, these are merely example functions of mobile station 600, andthe scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

In an aspect of example mobile station 600, one or more radiotransceivers 670 may be adapted to modulate an RF carrier signal withbaseband information, such as voice or data, onto an RF carrier, anddemodulate a modulated RF carrier to obtain such baseband information.An antenna 672 may be adapted to transmit a modulated RF carrier over awireless communications link and receive a modulated RF carrier over awireless communications link.

A baseband processor 660 may be adapted to provide baseband informationfrom a central processing unit (CPU) 620 to transceiver 670 fortransmission over a wireless communications link. Here, CPU 620 mayobtain such baseband information from an input device within a userinterface 610. Baseband processor 660 may also be adapted to providebaseband information from transceiver 670 to CPU 620 for transmissionthrough an output device within user interface 610.

User interface 610 may comprise a plurality of devices for inputting oroutputting user information such as voice or data. Such devices mayinclude, by way of non-limiting examples, a keyboard, a display screen,a microphone, and a speaker.

Transceiver 670 may provide demodulated information to correlator 640.Correlator 640 may be adapted to derive beacon-related correlationfunctions from information relating to beacon signals provided bytransceiver 670. This information may he used by mobile station 600 toacquire wireless communications services, for example from a wirelessaccess point. Channel decoder 650 may be adapted to decode channelsymbols received from baseband processor 660 into underlying sourcebits. In one example where channel symbols comprise convolutionallyencoded symbols, such a channel decoder may comprise a Viterbi decoder.In a second example, where channel symbols comprise serial or parallelconcatenations of convolutional codes, channel decoder 650 may comprisea turbo decoder.

A memory 630 may be adapted to store machine-readable instructions whichmay be executable to perform one or more of processes, implementations,or examples thereof which are described or suggested herein. CPU 620 mayaccess and execute such machine-readable instructions, thereby enablingmobile station 600 to perform one or more of the processes,implementations, and/or examples described and/or suggested above.Mobile station may also comprise one or more sensors 602, such as, forexample, an accelerometer or a gyroscope. Of course, mobile station 600is merely an example, and the scope of claimed subject matter is notlimited to the specific configuration of components and/or functionalunits depicted.

The methodologies described herein may be implemented by various meansdepending upon applications according to particular examples. Forexample, such methodologies may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, and/or combinations thereof. In a hardware implementation, forexample, a processing unit may be implemented within one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signalprocessors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors,electronic devices, other devices units designed to perform thefunctions described herein, and/or combinations thereof.

Some portions of the detailed description included herein are presentedin terms of algorithms or symbolic representations of operations onbinary digital signals stored within a memory of a specific apparatus orspecial purpose computing device or platform. In the context of thisparticular specification, the term specific apparatus or the likeincludes a general purpose computer once it is programmed to performparticular operations pursuant to instructions from program software.Algorithmic descriptions or symbolic representations are examples oftechniques used by those of ordinary skill in the signal processing orrelated arts to convey the substance of their work to others skilled inthe art. An algorithm is here, and generally, is considered to be aself-consistent sequence of operations or similar signal processingleading to a desired result. In this context, operations or processinginvolve physical manipulation of physical quantities. Typically,although not necessarily, such quantities may take the form ofelectrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred,combined, compared or otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient attimes, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signalsas bits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers,numerals, or the like. It should be understood, however, that all ofthese or similar terms are to be associated with appropriate physicalquantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless specifically statedotherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciatedthat throughout this specification discussions utilizing terms such as“processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining” or the likerefer to actions or processes of a specific apparatus, such as a specialpurpose computer or a similar special purpose electronic computingdevice. In the context of this specification, therefore, a specialpurpose computer or a similar special purpose electronic computingdevice is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typicallyrepresented as physical electronic or magnetic quantities withinmemories, registers, or other information storage devices, transmissiondevices, or display devices of the special purpose computer or similarspecial purpose electronic computing device.

“Instructions” as referred to herein relate to expressions whichrepresent one or more logical operations. For example, instructions maybe “machine-readable” by being interpretable by a machine for executingone or more operations on one or more data objects. However, this ismerely an example of instructions and claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. In another example, instructions as referred toherein may relate to encoded commands which are executable by aprocessing circuit having a command set which includes the encodedcommands. Such an instruction may be encoded in the form of a machinelanguage understood by a processing circuit. Again, these are merelyexamples of an instruction and claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

“Storage medium” as referred to herein relates to media capable ofmaintaining expressions which are perceivable by one or more machines.For example, a storage medium may comprise one or more storage devicesfor storing machine-readable instructions and/or information. Suchstorage devices may comprise any one of several media types including,for example, magnetic, optical or semiconductor storage media. Suchstorage devices may also comprise any type of long term, short term,volatile or non-volatile memory devices. However, these are merelyexamples of a storage medium, and claimed subject matter is not limitedin these respects.

Wireless communication techniques described herein may be implementedusing various wireless communication networks such as a wireless widearea network (WWAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wirelesspersonal area network (WPAN), and so on. The term “network” and “system”may be used interchangeably herein. A WWAN may be a Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, aSingle-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network, andso on. A CDMA network may implement one or more radio accesstechnologies (RATs) such as cdma2000, Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), TimeDivision Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), to namejust a few radio technologies. Here, cdma2000 may include technologiesimplemented according to IS-95, IS-2000, and IS-856 standards. A TDMAnetwork may implement Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. GSMand W-CDMA are described in documents from a consortium named “3rdGeneration Partnership Project” (3GPP). Cdma2000 is described indocuments from a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A WLAN mayinclude an IEEE 802.11x network, and a WPAN may include a Bluetoothnetwork, an IEEE 802.15x, for example. Wireless communication networksmay include so-called next generation technologies (e.g., “4G”), suchas, for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE, WiMAX, UltraMobile Broadband (UMB), and/or the like.

The term “or” as used herein may include a variety of meanings that willdepend at least in part upon the context in which it is used. Typically,“or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to meanA, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C,here used in the exclusive sense. Reference throughout thisspecification to “one example” or “an example” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theexample is included in at least one example of claimed subject matter.Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one example” or “an example” invarious places throughout this specification are not necessarily allreferring to the same example. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more examples.Examples described herein may include machines, devices, engines, orapparatuses that operate using digital signals. Such signals maycomprise electronic signals, optical signals, electromagnetic signals,or any form of energy that provides information between locations.

While there has been illustrated and described what are presentlyconsidered to be example features, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various other modifications may be made, andequivalents may be substituted, without departing from claimed subjectmatter. Additionally, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation to the teachings of claimed subject matter withoutdeparting from the central concept described herein. Therefore, it isintended that claimed subject matter not be limited to the particularexamples disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter may alsoinclude all aspects falling within the scope of the appended claims, andequivalents thereof.

1. A method comprising: receiving venue infrastructure information at afirst entity hosted on a mobile station, wherein said first entitycomprises at least one of a venue-secured application or a systemservice; and selectively providing a portion of said venueinfrastructure information received at said first entity to one or moreother entities hosted on said mobile station based, at least in part, ona privilege level attributed to said mobile station or user associatedwith said mobile station, wherein at least one of said one or more otherentities comprises a location engine service capable of estimating aposition of said mobile station based, at least in part, on saidprovided portion of said venue infrastructure information, and whereinsaid venue infrastructure information comprises at least one of venuemap information or information descriptive of at least one location of aradio frequency (RF) beacon transmitter in a venue.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said provided portion include said informationdescriptive of at least one location of an RF beacon transmitter in saidvenue and excludes said venue map information, the method furthercomprising estimating one or more trajectories of said mobile station bya venue-secured application.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein saidvenue infrastructure information includes said information descriptiveof said at least one location of an RF beacon transmitter, and furthercomprising: preventing dissemination of said information descriptive ofsaid at least one location of an RF beacon transmitter to said otherentities; receiving, at a venue-secured application, measurements ofranges from three or more radio frequency beacon transmitters from alocation engine service; and estimating, at said venue-securedapplication, said position of said mobile station based, at least inpart, on said measurements and information descriptive of at least onelocation of an RF beacon transmitter.
 4. The method of claim 1, andfurther comprising determining said provided portion based, at least inpart, according to a monetization or subscription model.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein said privilege level is based, at least in part, ona loyalty classification associated with said user.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said privilege level is based, at least in part, on aclassification of said user's role in an enterprise.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said privilege level is further associated with anapplication hosted on said mobile device.
 8. An article of manufacturecomprising: a storage medium comprising machine readable instructionsstored thereon which are executable by a special purpose computingdevice in a mobile station to: access venue infrastructure informationreceived at said mobile station from a venue server; and selectivelyprovide a portion of said venue infrastructure information to one ormore entities hosted on said mobile station based, at least in part, ona privilege level attributed to said mobile station or user associatedwith said mobile station, wherein at least one of said one or moreentities comprises a location engine service capable of estimating aposition of said mobile station based, at least in part, on saidprovided portion of said venue infrastructure information, and whereinsaid venue infrastructure information comprises at least one of venuemap information or information descriptive of at least one location of aradio frequency (RF) beacon transmitter in a venue.
 9. The article ofmanufacture of claim 8, wherein said instructions are further executableby said special purpose computing device to determine said providedportion based, at least in part, according to a monetization orsubscription model.
 10. The article of manufacture of claim 8, whereinsaid provided portion include said information descriptive of at leastone location of an RF beacon transmitter in said venue and excludes saidvenue map information, and wherein said instructions are furtherexecutable by said special purpose computing device to estimate one ormore trajectories of said mobile station by a venue-secured application.11. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein said instructions arefurther executable by said special purpose computing device to: preventdissemination of said information descriptive of said at least onelocation of an RF beacon transmitter to said other entities; obtain, ata venue-secured application measurements of ranges from three or moreradio frequency beacon transmitters from said location engine; andestimate, at said venue-secured application, said position of saidmobile station based, at least in part, on said measurements andinformation descriptive of at least one location of an RF beacontransmitter.
 12. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein saidprivilege level is based, at least in part, on a loyalty classificationassociated with said user.
 13. The article of manufacture of claim 8,wherein said privilege level is based, at least in part, on aclassification of said user's role in an enterprise.
 14. An apparatuscomprising: means for receiving venue infrastructure information at afirst entity hosted on a mobile station, wherein said first entitycomprises at least one of a venue-secured application or a systemservice; and means for selectively providing a portion of said venueinfrastructure information received at said first entity to one or moreother entities hosted on said mobile station based, at least in part, ona privilege level attributed to said mobile station or user associatedwith said mobile station, wherein at least one of said one or moreentities comprises a location engine service capable of estimating aposition of said mobile station based, at least in part, on saidprovided portion of said venue infrastructure information, and whereinsaid venue infrastructure information comprises at least one of venuemap information or information descriptive of at least one location of aradio frequency (RF) beacon transmitter in a venue.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 14, and further comprising: means for preventing dissemination ofsaid information descriptive of said at least one location of an RFbeacon transmitter to said other entities; means for receiving, at avenue-secured application, measurements of ranges from three or moreradio frequency beacon transmitters from a location engine service; andmeans for estimating, at said venue-secured application, said positionof said mobile station based, at least in part, on said measurements andinformation descriptive of at least one location of an RF beacontransmitter.
 16. A mobile station comprising: a receiver to receivesignals from a communication network; and a processor to host a firstentity, wherein said first entity comprises at least one of avenue-secured application or a system service; wherein said first entityis configured to: access venue infrastructure information obtained fromsignals received at said receiver from a venue server; and selectivelyprovide a portion of said venue infrastructure information received atsaid first entity to one or more other entities hosted on said processorbased, at least in part, on a privilege level attributed to said mobilestation or user associated with said mobile station, wherein at leastone of said one or more other entities comprises a location engineservice capable of estimating a position of said mobile station based,at least in part, on said provided portion of said venue infrastructureinformation, and wherein said venue infrastructure information comprisesat least one of venue map information or information descriptive of atleast one location of a radio frequency (RF) beacon transmitter in avenue.
 17. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein said provided portionis selected, at least in part, according to a monetization orsubscription model.
 18. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein saidprovided portion includes said information descriptive of at least onelocation of an RF beacon transmitter in said venue and excludes saidvenue map information, and wherein said first entity is further toestimate one or more trajectories of said mobile station.
 19. The mobilestation of claim 16, wherein said venue infrastructure informationincludes said information descriptive of said at least one location ofan RF beacon transmitter, and wherein said first entity is further to:prevent dissemination of said information descriptive of said at leastone location of an RF beacon transmitter to said one or more otherentities; obtain measurements of ranges from three or more radiofrequency beacon transmitters from said location engine; and estimatesaid position of said mobile station based, at least in part, on saidmeasurements and information descriptive of at least one location of anRF beacon transmitter.
 20. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein saidprivilege level is based, at least in part, on a loyalty classificationassociated with said user.
 21. The mobile station of claim 16, whereinsaid privilege level is based, at least in part, on a classification ofsaid user's role in an enterprise.
 22. The mobile station of claim 16,wherein venue infrastructure information comprises a location of atleast one femtocell.